Karen Goetz
Karen Goetz
Gorgeous. Lithe balance. A mineralized tiger that grew up on pears and yellow citrus flowers. A feline who cat-scratched tuffeau. Limpid.
2009 Huet Vouvray "Clos du Bourg" sec
- Thread starter Karen Goetz
- Start date
Those are some attractive descriptors. Meanwhile, I'm working my way through a bottle of 2023 Le Mont Sec and wondering what happened to the vineyard expression! It's so ripe and polished, none of the minty Le Mont cut I remember from yesteryear. Does show more mineral with air, and it's an attractive wine, so maybe it just needs time. But this is more polished than I remember 2003 being on release.
It's a new world.
It's a new world.
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
Thrilled to hear about the 2009, being both an optimist and an unregistered Huet groupie. Thing is, a number of us here tasted the 09s extensively on release and came to an apparently premature conclusion that sugar was required to maintain balance in the vintage, i.e. we really liked everything starting with some, if not all, the demi-sec while the dry wines were deemed to have (show?) too much alcohol for ultimate balance. Bear in mind though that at the time we didn't have much analytical experience with such warm vintages on release, having discarded the 03s as a one-off(*).
Rahsaan-
Don and I just had the 23s at a dinner with Sarah Hwang and Benjamin Joliveau. I think you'd be even more motivated to comment on the matter had you tasted the Clos du Bourg Sec side by side, given how stony and fresh-flavored it is. On the surface (no pun intended!) this isn't surprising. The clay soil in Le Mont is quite deep, 4 meters or more in places, not unlike Haut Lieu to which it is adjacent, and in dramatic juxtaposition to Bourg which is barely a meter deep on top of hard tuffeau jaune. Facing full south, we'd be expecting a wine of a generous nature, except as you point out our experience of many years is quite the opposite. If you read your experts on the subject (Gilman, R Kelley et al), the top soil in Le Mont is quite complex and unusual, very stony and flinty, iron rich, with an spooky green color due to glauconite. Safe to say this composition has historically contributed both to the flavor/aromatic profile of Le Mont as well as to its structure and longevity. With the '23, I thought the former was very much on display, especially when side-by-side with Haut Lieu, while the latter as you say remains an open question. I would love to have another go at this wine a year from now.
(*) the 03s at our dinner showed quite well. Bourg 1ere was fine, Constance outstanding, and the ungrafted demi-sec certainly did not stick out as an unusually sweet or soft demi, even when tasted next to 08 Le Mont demi-sec.
Rahsaan-
Don and I just had the 23s at a dinner with Sarah Hwang and Benjamin Joliveau. I think you'd be even more motivated to comment on the matter had you tasted the Clos du Bourg Sec side by side, given how stony and fresh-flavored it is. On the surface (no pun intended!) this isn't surprising. The clay soil in Le Mont is quite deep, 4 meters or more in places, not unlike Haut Lieu to which it is adjacent, and in dramatic juxtaposition to Bourg which is barely a meter deep on top of hard tuffeau jaune. Facing full south, we'd be expecting a wine of a generous nature, except as you point out our experience of many years is quite the opposite. If you read your experts on the subject (Gilman, R Kelley et al), the top soil in Le Mont is quite complex and unusual, very stony and flinty, iron rich, with an spooky green color due to glauconite. Safe to say this composition has historically contributed both to the flavor/aromatic profile of Le Mont as well as to its structure and longevity. With the '23, I thought the former was very much on display, especially when side-by-side with Haut Lieu, while the latter as you say remains an open question. I would love to have another go at this wine a year from now.
(*) the 03s at our dinner showed quite well. Bourg 1ere was fine, Constance outstanding, and the ungrafted demi-sec certainly did not stick out as an unusually sweet or soft demi, even when tasted next to 08 Le Mont demi-sec.
Karen Goetz
Karen Goetz
Hi Rahsaan, gotta say that all my Huet has been purchased upon vintage release retail, not third party or auction in later years... been lucky that way.